Cinderella Monogatari

You won't see her like that for most of the series.

A 1996 anime adaptation by Tatsunoko Production of the famous fairy tale, Cinderella Monogatari opens as Cinderella's life changes for the worse when her father leaves on a business trip. No sooner is he out of sight than Cinderella's stepmother has unceremoniously moved her own daughters into Cinderella's room, thrown out her things, handed her a servant's dress, and put her to brutal harsh work. The series covers Cinderella's trials and tribulations as she tries to adapt to her new life while suffering the abuse of her mother and sisters.

All the while, her fairy godmother, Paulette, subtly watches her and tries to influence events to fix Cinderella's life without her noticing. One of her first acts in this is to grant several of the animals of the house the power of speech, thus giving Cinderella companions in her dog Patch, a pair of mice named Chuchu and Bingo, and a bird named Pappy. The animals provide her company as well as help with her chores. The biggest twist in the series is that Cinderella meets her Prince Charming early - except here he's the rogueish Prince Charles, who has a habit of sneaking out of the castle and meets Cinderella by accident while disguised as a commoner. The two have a few misunderstandings before becoming friends and start having adventures together. Meanwhile, the villainous Duke Zaral plots against the royal family throughout the story, at times working Cinderella into his plots and machinations. The series eventually culminates in the ball in which the fairy tale ends, but with its own unique twist.

Cinderella Monogatari never received an official US release, but it was dubbed for English speaking markets overseas. It was also dubbed into several other languages for overseas distribution. You can find the entire series on Youtube.

Tropes used in Cinderella Monogatari include:

Alpha Bitch: Cinderella's siblings bring a pair of this.
Arranged Marriage: Cinderella's father sets one up for Katherine, but as their mother wants one of the girls to be available to marry Prince Charles, she tries to pawn him off on Cinderella instead.
Beauty Equals Goodness: The siblings aren't actually ugly here, but as usual, Cinderella is considered more attractive then them and is, unsurprisingly, the kindest.
Bishonen: Prince Charles...and for that matter, his page Alex.
Blessed with Suck: At the night of the grand ball, Paulette turns Cinderella's animal companions into footmen for her carriage...except for Pappy the bird, who gets turned into a giant feather for her headband. Ouch. At least it wears off at midnight...
Cassandra Truth: Charles finally tries to tell Cinderella who he really is, but because he's been lying so much to her, Cinderella doesn't believe him.
Cats Are Mean: Meisha, who is in no way inspired by the Disney character of Lucifer. Noooo.
Clark Kenting: Prince Charles when he's a commoner...he simply steals Alex's jacket, changes his shirt, and slightly ruffles his hair. Nobody recognizes him, even when he uses his real name.
Dance of Romance: Subverted, since Charles and Cinderella actually know each other by the time of the ball. Furthermore, while Charles doesn't recognize her at the ball, his attraction to her is because of her familiarity.
Disney Villain Death: Duke Zaral gets rocks in his eyes while trying to kill the happy couple and goes tumbling off a tower to his death.
Domino Mask: Alex wears one when Charles gets him to pretend to be him so he can get out of a ball.
Evil Chancellor: Duke Zaral falls neatly into this - though not explicitly a Chancellor, the King and Queen frequently rely on him in this sort of role.
Extreme Doormat: Cinderella herself. She pretty much lets her step-family repeatedly abuse her, take her things, destroy her invitation to the ball, and basically ruin her life...all the while making her feel guilty for upsetting them. Strangely, she's extremely bold when dealing with Charles - though only when she thinks he's "Charles the Fibber" and not "Prince Charles."
Fairy Godmother: Paulette, though she never lets on until the very end of the series. Unlike the one in the fairy tale, Paulette stays involved in Cinderella's life as opposed to just appearing out of the blue. Cinderella unintentionally helps her out at the start of the series, but doesn't realize who she is. Paulette spends most of the series in the background using subtle magic to nudge things Cinderella's way just enough that she can manage things on her own. The animals stay in touch with her without telling Cinderella.
Faking the Dead: In the finale, Charles is nearly poisoned by the Duke, but he and Alex are suspicious and instead fake his poisoning to throw off the villains.
Foregone Conclusion:
Fortune Teller: Yan is a mix of this and a Phony Psychic, as his predictions are a combination of luck, cold reading, and genuine clairvoyance.
The Girl Who Fits This Slipper: Well, duh. Subverted hard though - at the pivotal moment, Cinderella, still believing that she isn't good enough for Prince Charles, lies about attending the ball and refuses to try on the shoe. Similar to the Disney version, she is discovered because she still has the other shoe. Unlike the Disney version, it's the work of the animals that unveils the shoes after Alex has already left assuming she was telling the truth. Then she still needs some coaxing. Also subverted in that the final episode takes place after the original story's climax.
Grand Finale: The story doesn't end with the shoe fitting. More like a big action set piece with Duke Zaral coming back for one last attempt at the kingdom.
Heel Face Turn: Meisha the cat. This is symbolized by her offering the other animals food and Paulette finally granting her the power of speech.
- Cinderella's step-family at the last minute. Probably because the real conflict of the final episode is Duke Zaral's last stand.
Idiot Ball: Cinderella blows off things as a "coincidence" rather frequently. For example, when Charles tells her his identity, she assumes he must be another guy named Charles...that looks exactly like the Prince and lives at the castle. Later, she overhears Duke Zaral's plot to "overthrow the king"...and assumes it must be "some other king". Fortunately for Charles, she blurts this out to him anyway and he starts being more cautious.
Identical Stranger: Yan's friend Marcel bears such an uncanny resemblance to the Prince that Zaral tries to use him in a scheme to replace the real Prince. Later, Marcel dresses up as the Prince for a costume party and gets mistaken for him by Zaral's henchman during a coup...which buys Charles time to safely take his home back.
Inter Class Romance: The title character and Charles. Cinderella gives up on staying with Charles due to the class difference and assumes he feels the same. Even to the point of refusing to try on the glass slipper as she doesn't believe she's good enough for him. There's also a short story arc in which Cinderella and Charles try to help out Nicholas, a poor violinist, and Lora, a noble's daughter, who have a similar problem.
Karma Houdini: Cinderella's step-family gets no repercussions for treating Cinderella like dirt...simply because at the very last moment, they decide to be nice to her.
King Incognito: Prince Charles does this frequently. This causes problems early in the series since Cinderella doesn't believe his cover story, and hence doesn't believe him about anything else. This also causes problems for his page Alex, since Charles frequently borrows his clothes and occasionally his identity as well.
Mad Artist: Zore creates paintings that suck the life out of their subjects.
Meaningful Name: Paulette is a play on "Palette", as she lives as a painter (when she's not using magic to meddle).
Never Say "Die": The villains, at least in the English dub, tend to talk around actually trying to suggest they're trying to kill other people. Particularly awkward as they try not to say that Charles is "dead" after they poison him.
No Export for You: The show was dubbed into English, but did not run in many English-speaking countries...including Canada, where it's obvious the dubbing was done.
Obviously Evil: Duke Zaral is sporting the usual "evil chancellor" look. The painter Zore looks like a demonic Howard Hughes.
Pair the Spares: Isabel is initially pushed onto Charles by her father, Duke Zaral, but eventually gives up on him when she realizes he will never reciprocate her emotions. Her father forbids her from marrying anyone else. Skip ahead and suddenly Cinderella has an engagement she needs to get away from...and lo and behold, the young man is Isabel's beloved childhood friend who still loves her.
Performance Anxiety: Mary the acrobat in Episode 8 has trouble performing in front of crowds, requiring Cinderella and Charles to come up with a way to help her get over it.
Pimped-Out Dress: Cinderella dons one for the ball, as expected. Subverted in that it's still her own dress, but Paulette upgrades it to look more fashionable.
Prince Charming: Heavily subverted with Charles. He gets called "Prince Charming" a few times by other characters, but in reality, he's a pretty typical rebellious teenager.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Unlike the very passive Prince Charming of other versions of the story, Prince Charles is an active participant in the story. By the time the ball has come about, he's already fallen for Cinderella.
Shout-Out: Charles is very clearly named for Charles Perrault, the man that collected the most famous version of the fairy tale.
Ungrateful Bitch: Cinderella saves Jeanne from nearly getting shot by Charles during a fog in his hunting thicket. Jeanne's response is to keep chewing her out like always. Even Charles is stunned at how ungrateful she is.
- Cinderella risks her life to fight through a haunted forest to save her stepmother. Said stepmother snaps back to hating her and talking about her "real daughters".
Soul Jar: Zore has the power to turn the portraits he creates into these.
Suspiciously Similar Outfit: Katherine is so paranoid of this happening at a party that she drags Cinderella along to sit in the carriage and redo her hat when she discovers Isabel wore the same one.
Spoiler Opening: The guy in the mask that duels Charles in the opening of the show? You don't see those guys until the final episode.
Talking Animal: One of the few comforts Cinderella has are her talking animal friends, who are granted the power of speech in the first episode by Paulette. Apparently others could hear them speak as well, they just pretend to be normal animals around other humans.
When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Retained from the original story, but it only applies to the elements Paulette enchanted for the ball.
Wicked Stepmother: As expected, though the version present in this story puts them to shame.